Fuel pump for motor vehicle

Abstract: A motor vehicle fuel pump (22) including a tubular shell (26), an electric motor (32) in the shell (26) having an armature shaft (112) rotatable about a longitudinal centreline (62) of the shell (26), and a pump assembly at one end of the shell (26) having a first rotatable element (56) and a second element (88) between the first rotatable element (56) and the electric motor (32). A barrel-shaped driver (120) in a cavity (116) between the first and second rotatable elements (56,88) includes drive lugs (128) on each longitudinal end projecting into corresponding drive sockets (96,132) in the first and second rotatable elements (56,88). Each drive lug (128) has a rounded edge (130) engaging a side of the corresponding drive socket (96,132) such that the driver (120) is effectively decoupled from the first and second rotatable elements (56,88) except with respect to force reactions establishing torsional force couples on the rotatable elements in planes perpendicular to the longitudinal centreline (62) of the shell (32). The armature shaft (112) has a distal end for including a drive tang (118) received in a correspondingly shaped cavity (122) in the barrel-shaped driver (120).

Description: This invention relates to fuel pumps for motor vehicles. A motor vehicle fuel pump according to the preamble of claim 1 is described in US-A-4,445,820 including an electric motor and a pair of closed-vane regenerative turbine pumps. The electric motor has an armature shaft rotatable about a longitudinal centreline of the pump and each turbine pump has a disc-shaped impeller rotatable about the longitudinal centreline of the pump independently of the armature shaft. A driver attached to an end of the armature shaft has a pair of bifurcated arms extending serially through apertures in the impellers, whereby the impellers are drivingly connected to the armature shaft. The present invention seeks to provide an improved motor vehicle fuel pump. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a motor vehicle fuel pump as specified in claim 1. A motor vehicle fuel pump based on such features includes a driver of improved construction relative to the driver in US-A-4,445,820 for drivingly connecting an electric motor armature shaft to a pair of rotatable elements in the pump. A preferred embodiment provides a motor vehicle fuel pump including a tubular shell, an electric motor in the shell having an armature shaft rotatable about a longitudinal centreline of the shell, a pump assembly at one end of the shell having a first element therein rotatable in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal centreline and a second element therein between the first rotatable elements and the electric motor and likewise rotatable in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal centreline. A barrel-shaped driver is disposed in a cavity between the first and second rotatable elements and includes drive lugs on each longitudinal end projecting into corresponding drive sockets in the first and second rotatable elements. Each drive lug has a rounded edge engaging a side of the corresponding drive socket such that the driver is effectively decoupled from the first and second rotatable elements except with respect to force reactions establishing torsional force couples on the rotatable elements in planes perpendicular to the longitudinal centreline of the shell. The armature shaft has a distal end forming a drive tang received in a correspondingly shaped cavity in the barrel-shaped driver. The aforesaid decoupling of the driver from the rotatable elements minimises the propensity for the rotatable elements to bind against non-rotating elements of the pump in the presence of tolerance induced misalignment between the rotatable and non-rotatable elements. An embodiment of the present invention is described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view, partially in cross-section, of a motor vehicle fuel tank having disposed therein an embodiment of a fuel pump; Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partially in cross-section, of the fuel pump of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an exploded view of the fuel pump of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the fuel pump of Figure 1. Referring to Figure 1, a fuel tank 10 of a motor vehicle, not shown, has a top panel 12 and a bottom panel 14. A reservoir 16 is disposed inside the fuel tank and biased against the bottom panel 14 by a plurality of springs 18 mounted on a corresponding plurality of struts, not shown, which connect the reservoir 16 to a cover 20 on the top panel 12. A fuel pump 22 is disposed inside the reservoir and communicates with an engine, not shown, of the vehicle through a high pressure hose 24 inside the fuel tank and through external high pressure conduits, not shown, between the cover 20 and the engine. Surplus fuel is returned to the reservoir through external low pressure conduits, not shown, and through the aforesaid struts. As seen best in Figures 2-3, a tubular shell 26 of the fuel pump 22 has an inlet end 28 and a discharge end 30. An electric motor 32 of the fuel pump is disposed in the shell 26 between a discharge end housing 34 closing the discharge end 30 and a pump assembly 36 closing the inlet end 28. An annular lip 38 of the shell 26 prevents dislodgement of the internal elements of the fuel pump through the inlet end. The opposite end of the shell is permanently deformed over the discharge end housing 34 to prevent dislodgement of the internal elements of the fuel pump through the discharge end 30 of the shell. The pump assembly 36 includes a first end housing 40, a separator 42, a gerotor pump group 44, and a second end housing 46. The first end housing 40 is generally disc-shaped and closely received in the shell 26 with a seal ring 48 on the first end housing bearing against the lip 38 on the shell. The separator 42 is similarly disc-shaped and closely received in the shell 26 with a lower flat side 50 bearing against an upper flat side 52 of the first end housing 40. An impeller cavity 54 in the first end housing faces and is closed by the lower flat side 50 of the separator 42. A first rotatable element of the pump assembly 36 in the form of a disc-shaped impeller 56 is disposed in the impeller cavity 54 between the flat side 50 and an annular boss 58 at the bottom of the impeller cavity. The impeller 56 is supported on pin-like shaft 60 on the first end housing 40 for rotation about a longitudinal centreline 62 of the shell and has a plurality of open-vane impeller vanes 64, Figures 2-3, around its periphery. The vanes 64 cooperate with a pair of arc-shaped grooves 66A-B in the lower side 50 of the separator and a corresponding pair of arc-shaped grooves 68A-B in the bottom of the impeller cavity 54 outboard of the boss 58 so as to form a pair of regenerative turbine pump channels. A passage 70 in the first end housing is surrounded by tubular boss 72 thereon and communicates with a first of the aforesaid pair of regenerative turbine pump channels formed by grooves 66A,68A and with the fuel tank 10 outside the reservoir 16. The first passage 70 forms a new fuel inlet from the fuel tank to the first pump channel. An aperture 74, Figure 3, in the first end housing 40 communicates with a second end of the first pump channel 66A,68A and with the reservoir 16 and forms a discharge for new fuel from the pump channel into the reservoir. A passage 76 in the first end housing 40 extends through a second tubular boss 78 on the first end housing and effects communication between the reservoir and a first end of a second one of the aforesaid pair of regenerative turbine pump channels formed by the grooves 66B,68B. A passage 80, Figure 3, in the separator 42 forms a flow path across the separator from a second end of the second pump channel 66B,68B. When the impeller 56 rotates clockwise, Figure 3, about the centreline 62, fluid flow from the fuel tank into the reservoir is induced in the first pump channel 66A,68A and fluid flow from the reservoir to the passage 80 is induced in the second pump channel 66B,68B. The gerotor pump group 44 includes a stationary ring 82 between an upper flat side 84 of the separator 42 and an inboard flat side 86 of the disc-shaped second end housing 46, an externally toothed inner ring 88, and an internally toothed outer ring 90. A bushing 92 at the centre of the inner ring is received on the outside diameter of a tubular ferrule 94 mounted on the second end housing 46 whereby the inner ring is supported on the shell 26 for rotation about the centreline 62 and constitutes a second rotatable element of the pump assembly 36. A plurality of generally rectangular internal spline teeth on the inner ring 88 form a corresponding plurality of generally rectangular notches 96 in the inner ring arrayed in a circle around the centreline 62 and facing the separator 42. As seen best in Figure 3, an inner cylindrical wall 98 of the stationary ring 82 supports the outer ring 90 on the shell 26 for rotation about an axis parallel to but slightly offset from the centreline 62. In conventional gerotor pump fashion, the teeth on the inner and outer rings 88,90 mesh and form a crescent-shaped inlet zone and a crescent-shaped discharge zone of the gerotor pump group. The inlet zone is aligned with the passage 80 in the separator 42. The discharge zone is aligned with a discharge port 100 in the second end housing 46. When the inner ring 88 rotates clockwise, Figure 3, about the centreline 62, fluid flow is induced from the passage 80 into the interior of the shell 26 through the discharge port 100. Fuel discharges from the shell 26 through a tubular connector 102 on the end housing 34, Figure 2. The electric motor 32 of the fuel pump 22 includes a flux ring 104 in the shell 26 abutting the second end housing 46, a plurality of permanent magnets 106 on the flux ring, and an armature 108. The armature 108 includes a wire wound core 110 on an armature shaft 112 aligned on the centreline 62. At a first end, not shown, the armature shaft is supported on the discharge end housing 34 for rotation about the centreline 62. Adjacent a second end 114, Figures 2-3, a cylindrical portion of the armature shaft 112 is journaled by the ferrule 94 for rotation about the centreline 62. As seen best in Figures 2-3, a cylindrical bore 116 in the separator 42, symmetric about the longitudinal centreline 62, forms a driver chamber between the first rotatable element or impeller 56 and the second rotatable element or inner ring 88. The second end 114 of the armature shaft 112 projects into the driver chamber and is flattened to form a drive tang 118 of so-called double-D shape. A barrel-shaped driver 120 is disposed in the driver chamber and has a double-D cavity 122 therein which closely receives the drive tang 118 so that the driver is drivingly connected to the armature shaft 112, i.e. rotatable as a unit with the armature shaft about the longitudinal centreline 62. The barrel-shaped driver 120 includes a first circular edge 124 facing the impeller 56 and a second circular edge 126 facing the inner ring 88. Each of the first and second circular edges 124,126 of the driver has formed thereon a plurality of short, buttress-shaped drive lugs 128. Each drive lug has a rounded driving edge 130 extending parallel to the centreline 62. The impeller 56 has a plurality of generally rectangular windows 132 arrayed in a circle radially inboard of the aforesaid arc-shaped pump channels. The windows 132 form sockets which loosely receive corresponding ones of the drive lugs 128 on the first edge 124 of the driver. Each window has a generally rounded side 134 engaged by the edge 130 of the corresponding lug 128 when the driver 120 is rotated clockwise, Figure 3, about the centreline 62. Since the windows 132 are oversize relative to the lugs 128, the force reactions of the rounded edges 130 on the sides 134 of the windows resolve into only torsional moments on the impeller 56 in the plane thereof about the centreline 62. The impeller is, therefore, effectively decoupled from the driver with respect to other force reactions attributable to tolerance induced misalignment between the impeller 56 and the driver 120. Similarly, the notches 96 in the inner ring 88 form a corresponding plurality of windows, i.e. sockets, in the inner ring which loosely receive corresponding ones of the drive lugs 128 on the second edge 126 of the driver. Each notch 96 has a generally rounded side engaged by the rounded edge 130 of the corresponding drive lug 128 when the driver 120 is rotated clockwise, Figure 3, about the centreline 62. Since the notches 96 are oversize relative to the lugs 128, the force reactions of the radiused edges 130 on the sides of the notches resolve into only torsional moments on the inner ring 88 in the plane thereof about the centreline 62. The inner ring is, therefore, effectively decoupled from the driver with respect to other force reactions attributable to tolerance induced misalignment between the inner ring and the driver. In operation, when the electric motor is turned on, the armature shaft 112 rotates clockwise, Figure 3, and drives each of the first and the second rotatable elements of the pump clockwise as a unit therewith through the driver 120. Fuel is pumped by the first rotatable element from the fuel tank into the reservoir 16 and from the reservoir to the inlet arc of the gerotor pump group. Concurrently, fuel is pumped by the second rotatable element from the inlet arc to the interior of the shell 26 through the discharge port 100 and out through the connector 102 on the discharge end housing 34. The short height of each drive lug 128 parallel to the centreline 62 relative to its length in the circumferential direction of the driver contributes to maximum drive lug durability.

Claims: A motor vehicle fuel pump including a tubular shell (26); an electric motor (32) located in the shell and including an armature shaft (112) rotatable about a centreline (62) of the shell, first pump means (40,42,56) located at an inlet end (28) of the fuel pump and including a first rotatable element (56); second pump means (44,88,90) located in the shell between the first rotatable element and the motor and including a second rotatable element (88); characterized in that the motor vehicle fuel pump further includes: a driver chamber (116) between the first and second rotatable elements; a barrel-shaped driver (120) located in the driver chamber and including a first edge (124) facing the first rotatable element, a second edge (126) facing the second rotatable element; a plurality of first drive lugs (128) on the first edge of said driver extending into corresponding drive sockets (132) located in the first rotatable element generally radially relative to the centerline of the shell, and a plurality of second drive lugs (128) on the second edge of the driver extending into corresponding drive sockets (96) located in the second rotatable element generally radially relative to the centerline of the shell, each of the lugs of the first and second plurality of drive lugs providing a drive edge (130) extending substantially parallel to the centreline of the shell which in use engages a side of its associated drive socket when the driver rotates in a first direction about the centreline of the shell; and connecting means (112, 118) connecting the driver to the armature shaft for rotation as a unit therewith in the first direction. A motor vehicle fuel pump according to claim 1, wherein the drive edge of each of the first and second plurality of drive lugs is rounded so that force reactions of the drive edges on corresponding sides of the drive sockets resolve substantially only into torsional force couples on each of the first and second rotatable elements in planes substantially perpendicular to the centreline of the shell. A motor vehicle fuel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connecting means (112,114) includes a cavity (122) formed in the driver on the centreline of the shell, and a tang (118) on an end of the armature shaft having a shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the cavity in the driver and received in the cavity in the driver. A motor vehicle fuel pump according to claim 3, wherein the cavity includes a flat side extending parallel to the centerline, the tang including a flat side extending parallel to the centerline of the shell and received in the cavity so that the flat side of the tang is juxtaposed the flat side of the cavity. A motor vehicle fuel pump according to any preceding claim, wherein the first pump means (40,42,56) is a regenerative turbine pump, the first rotatable element (56) being a disc-shaped impeller including a plurality of open-vane impeller vanes (64) disposed around a periphery thereof. A motor vehicle fuel pump according to any preceding claim, wherein the second pump means (44,88,90) is a gerotor pump group, the second rotatable element including an inner ring (88) comprising a plurality of outer gear teeth coacting with a plurality of inner gear teeth on an outer ring (90) of the gerotor pump group, the outer ring being supported on the shell for rotation about an axis parallel to and laterally offset from the centreline of the shell.

Inventors: HANTLE EDWARD ALLEN, HANTLE, EDWARD ALLEN
Applicants: GEN MOTORS CORP, GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION
Application year: 1994
Main classification: F02M37
IPC codes: F04C11, F02M37